5 StoryBrand Website Essentials to INSTANTLY Improve Your Conversions (+ checklist)
When it comes to your website, CLARITY is your greatest asset. Unfortunately, the vast majority of websites I see are confusing wastes of money!
Well, that’s only unfortunate for those businesses and the customers who could genuinely benefit from their product but will never buy it.
In a world that bombards you with advertisements, false promises, and poor self-promotion everywhere you turn (“LOOK AT HOW AWESOME OUR BUSINESS IS! GIVE US MONEY! WE DON’T REALLY CARE ABOUT YOU AS A PERSON!”), you have the opportunity to stand out above the crowd simply by not being confusing.
When you communicate what you do simply, clearly, and in a way that benefits them first, they’ll see you as a much-needed breath of fresh air.
Bruce Lee says “Be water,” but Zach says “Be that inviting, refreshing summer breeze.” (That does have a different ring to it, I’ll admit.)
You can do that simply by changing the information you include on your website. Here’s how.
The three questions your website MUST answer
When people visit your website, they’re going to ask three questions. Your job is to give them clear, concise answers right up front. Those questions are…
What do you offer, and is it for me?
How will it make my life better?
What do I need to do to get it?
The folx at StoryBrand call this the “Grunt Test” (see below). And if your website isn’t passing it, you’re losing money — and any chance at meaningful connection — right off the bat.
Remember, you only have one chance to make a good first impression. For most people, your website is that impression!
Luckily, it doesn’t take much to answer these questions in a way that gets you RESULTS. (Honestly, if your website were just a text document with these five things, you’d be doing better than a lot of very expensive websites out there.)
Focus on these five fundamental elements of your website, and you’ll be way ahead of the curve.
1. The Header
If you don’t absolutely nail your header, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Luckily, it’s not as hard as you think.
Let’s set the scene…
A savvy Internet user types in your URL, or clicks on a link from Google search results, or comes to your site through Instagram. The page loads, and you’ve got three seconds to pass the Grunt Test.
What’s the Grunt Test, you ask? Donald Miller over at StoryBrand puts in like this…
If you opened your laptop and showed a caveman your website, could they grunt back the answers to these questions:
What do you offer?
How will it make my life better?
What do I need to do to get it?
Now, your customers are likely more intelligent than a caveman, but you want it to have the same effect. If you showed someone in a café your website and quickly closed your laptop, they should immediately be able to answer these three questions.
That’s why your header needs to CLEARLY describe what you do by offering a promise and including a direct call to action.
Above the fold, you’ll want to include big calls to action in the top-right corner as well as in the middle of your header image.
Why? People’s eyes move across a screen in a “Z” motion. They see the top-left corner (usually your logo and possibly a tagline), scan the top (your menu bar), cut down through the middle of the header, and finally sweep across the bottom.
So make sure that you give browsers something to accept or reject right away. Eschew CTA’s like “Learn more” in favor of stronger copy like “Start here,” “Schedule a call,” or “Donate.”
(And while you’re at it, I’d recommend moving as much as you can out of the menu bar and into the footer section of your website. Don’t make your customer think! Guide them where you want them to go.)
But what should your header actually say in words?
In as few words as possible, your header copy should clearly state what you do, who you do it for, and why they would want it. The best ones make a promise to solve a common pain point or add value to your target customer in some other way.
This can be especially difficult for nonprofits and other mission-driven brands, but little improvements really do go a long way.
Here’s an example for a totally made-up agency that helps nonprofits with fundraising…
Decent copy: “Fundraising consulting for new nonprofits.” (Not very exciting, but it does tell me what you do and who you do it for. If I run a new nonprofit that’s struggling with funding, I’ll stick around to learn more.)
Better copy: “Get foundations to THROW grants your way — even if you don’t know where to start and no one’s ever heard of you.” (This addresses my biggest challenges related to a HUGE pain point while promising the solution. If I’m your target customer, you’ve got my attention.)
Bad copy: “Make a difference that lasts.” (If I had a nickel for every time I read something like this… What do you do and who do you do it for?! This could equally apply to a prison reform initiative and someone who trains math tutors.)
Add a CTA button right below your header copy with the primary action you want users to take. Not everyone will be ready to click, and that’s okay. That’s why you’ll continue to…
2. The Stakes
If you don’t clearly outline what’s at stake for not working with you, potential customers won’t sense the urgency of listening to you. So they won’t.
This is where most non-sleazy sales people — myself included! — can struggle the most. That’s because this section vividly paints the negative consequences of inaction. It requires you to tap into negative and uncomfortable emotions.
I want to be clear: THERE IS A WRONG WAY TO DO THIS. I am NOT telling you to exploit people’s negative feelings for the sake of a sale or donation.
What I am saying is that every story needs conflict. If you don’t have conflict, you don’t really have a story. And telling a story where your reader is the hero is EXACTLY what your website is for.
In 2-3 sentences or less, show customers what they will miss out on if they don’t engage with you (especially in the short-term). Then, we’ll position ourselves as the guide to help them overcome those challenges.
This is a great time to use loss-aversion language, including questions like
“Are you tired of…?”
“Do you wish that…?”
“Is ________ costing you unnecessary time and money?”
You want to agitate the problem a little bit to be clear about what’s at stake. Don’t shy away from the conflict. Instead, address it directly — but DO NOT at any time attempt to make your reader feel bad or shame/guilt them into working with you.
3. The Benefits
The best marketers know that people don’t pay for products and services. They pay for SOLUTIONS to their problems. And if you don’t relate your offer to that solution, you’re toast.
Here’s what I mean…
If the stakes section is essentially communicating what bad things won’t happen or continue to happen after engaging with your business, then the benefits or “value proposition” section is basically an explanation of what GOOD things WILL happen as a result of it.
Paint a vivid, climactic scene of what success will look like in the short and long-term. Use visual language that appeals to your reader’s feelings and emotions, and use words that also add economic value to your product.
Some of the best value proposition sections I’ve seen are just a bullet-point list of customer benefits. Set a timer for 3-5 minutes and see how many you can come up with. Then pick the best ones (the ones that resonate most with your target audience) and display them clearly.
4. The Plan
If you’ve done a good job up to this point, your target customer knows what you offer and how it will make their life better, and (with some marketing know-how and a bit of luck) they’re interested in taking the next step.
There’s just one thing… Making a final decision requires a lot of brain power. Your potential customer might not be sure that engaging with you is worth the money or the hassle, or the process of doing so might be a little unclear.
You have to make it look really easy to do business with you.
That’s why distilling your service or engagement into a three-step process is one of the most valuable things you can do for your CUSTOMER as well as your brand. It lifts the fog and shows them how to get where they want to go: as simple as 1, 2, 3.
Even if you actually have a 50-step process (I’m a consultant, I get it), take a second to think about how you can break down what you do into a beginning, middle, and end.
Let’s say you offer transitional employment services for individuals transitioning out of incarceration. Your process might look like…
Call to speak with a staff member and schedule an interview.
We’ll match you with one of our programs in X, Y, and Z based on fit.
After 6 months, we’ll help find and place you with a permanent employer.
Then, of course, refine your copy to really make the process simple and memorable:
Come in for an interview.
Complete a 6-month apprenticeship.
Start with a permanent employer.
How about one more to make it even more succinct:
Interview
Apprenticeship
Employment
Maybe that process takes months of work and a million separate tasks, but in the end you’re able to tell a complete story that makes the process much more clear for your target customer.
If you don’t currently have an established process that you guide customers and clients through, this might be a good time to think about one.
In fact, that’s exactly how I established my own consulting process. I used to approach clients like, “Hey, uh, what do you need? Oh, I can do that! *quickly learns how to do that*”
Now I onboard all my new coaching clients through the same framework (even if the details are different to meet diverse individual needs)...
Discovery (brand messaging + how to set the right goals)
Strategy (what’s going to give the highest ROI given your goals, time, and budget?)
Execution (copy reviews, editorial support, ongoing guidance)
Is my process really that different from what many other consultants do? Not really. BUT, it does clearly outline the story that I’m inviting my audience to be a part of. That makes all the difference when it comes to making it easy to say yes.
You can even think of the plan as a “How It Works” section, but call it whatever you’d like. As long as your prospect can see the illuminated path that you, the guide, will lead them down, it’ll be simple for them to take the next step.
5. The Explanatory Paragraph
By now you’ve hooked your reader and offered a mouthwatering solution to your customer’s problem. However, it’s likely that they’ll still have a few questions and objections or need an extra nudge to take the next step.
If you don’t dig a little deeper into what you can do for them, there’s a much higher chance that they’ll bounce and not come back.
Enter the explanatory paragraph.
Hopefully up to now your copy has been both focused and concise. Now that your reader has scrolled down quite a ways, you’re allowed to use your words just a bit more.
The explanatory paragraph is where you’ll explain in-depth what you do. And since it’s a little longer, it’ll be where your search engine optimization, or SEO, strategy comes into play.
If you’re just getting started, then it’s worth repeating my stance on SEO…
You can’t out-exercise a bad diet.
You can’t paint over a hole in the wall.
AND YOU CAN’T PROMOTE A WEAK PRODUCT OR MESSAGE WITH SEO.
The vast majority of businesses I see clamoring for an SEO-minded copywriter (or worse, an SEO agency) are wasting time and money on random marketing tactics and have no idea how to communicate what they do in an effective way.
Now that that’s out of the way, here are the two things your explanatory paragraph actually needs to prioritize:
Show that you care.
Prove that you can deliver.
Position yourself as the guide.
The first part is EMPATHY, the second part is COMPETENCE, and the third part is GOOD MESSAGING. And by now you know that they all rely on CLARITY.
Together, those key elements will help you overcome your prospect’s objections and invite them to be the hero of your story.
While this section is a “paragraph,” remember that shorter is often (though not always) better. I recommend 3-5 sentences. Remember that you can include testimonials and other forms of social proof in this content section as well.
At this point your prospect should have NO question about what you do and whether it’s right for them. Give them a final decision to make with a strong call to action. It’s simply a matter of showing them the next step on the path.
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To recap, your website should answer…
What do you offer, and is it for me?
How will it make my life better?
What do I need to do to get it?
And the five sections you should spend the most time focusing on are…
The header
The stakes
The benefits
The plan
The explanatory paragraph
Execute them well, and I promise you’ll start seeing incredible results from your website.
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